1 online resource (xviii, 441 pages) :

Downtown America was once the vibrant urban center romanticized in the Petula Clark songa place where the lights were brighter, where people went to spend their money and forget their worries. But in the second half of the twentieth century, "downtown" became a shadow of its former self, succumbing to economic competition and commercial decline. And the death of Main Streets across the country came to be seen as sadly inexorable, like the passing of an aged loved one. Downtown America cuts beneath the archetypal story of downtown's rise and fall and offers a dynamic new story of urba

Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-419) and index

Introduction: Beyond decline: assessing the values of urban commercial life in the twentieth century -- City beautiful or beautiful mess? The gendered origins of a civic ideal -- Fixing an image of commercial dignity: postcards and the business of planning Main Street -- "Mrs. Consumer," "Mrs. Brown America," and "Mr. Chain Store Man": economic woman and the laws of retail -- Main Street's interior frontier: innovation amid Depression and War -- "The demolition of our outworn past": suburban shoppers and the logic of urban renewal -- The hollow prize? Black buyers, racial violence, and the riot renaissance -- Animated by nostalgia: preservation and vacancy since the 1960s -- Conclusion: "The lights are much brighter there."

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